As President Trump prepares to pull U.S. forces out of Syria, voters' beliefs that American political leaders put U.S. troops in danger too much is at its lowest level in more than five years. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 43% of likely U.S. voters say political leaders send American soldiers into harm’s way too often, while seven percent (7%) feel U.S. troops are sent into harm’s way not often enough. Thirty-seven percent (37%) believe the balance is about right. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.

DART's target Didymos was chosen based on very different criteria. It's a binary asteroid, which means DART can slam into the smaller object of the pair. But scientists can gather robust data about the bodies and their locations from Earth, which will help them track where to target the car-size spacecraft as well as how much the collision knocked the object off course.

President Trump denounced former Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday, saying at a cabinet meeting he "essentially" fired the former Marine Corps general from the top Pentagon post. "What's he done for me? How had he done in Afghanistan? Not too good," Trump said, according to a Bloomberg News journalist, who reported a quote relayed by a colleague in the room. "As you know, President Obama fired him, and essentially so did I," Trump said at the meeting, attended by Mattis' replacement, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Why not Lt. Col. Allen West for the next Secretary of Defense? He's old-school, no-nonsense, and if President Donald Trump nominates a black conservative to lead the U.S. armed forces, the Left will go in violence mode, don't you think? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_West_(politician)

The resignation letter of Secretary of Defense James Mattis that was published last Thursday revealed much of the Deep State mindset that has produced the foreign policy catastrophes of the past seventeen years. Mattis, an active duty general in the Marine Corps who reportedly occasionally reads books, received a lot of good press during his time at Defense, sometimes being referred to as “the only adult in the room” when President Donald Trump’s national security and foreign policy team was meeting. Conveniently forgotten are Mattis comments relating to how to “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill...

The president needs help uprooting a Washington foreign-policy establishment that has mindlessly kept the U.S. military involved in unnecessary wars across the globe. The next top military leader must share this goal. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is a good man and a patriot who has served his country with distinction. President Trump was right, however, in asking for his resignation because Mattis represents the Washington foreign-policy establishment that has mindlessly kept the U.S. military involved in unnecessary wars across the globe. President Donald Trump ran on a realist platform, decrying “stupid wars,” and vowing that there would be “...

President Trump on Sunday said deputy defense secretary Patrick Shanahan will take over as acting secretary of the department on Jan. 1 to cover the accelerated departure of Jim Mattis — after a string of disagreements between Trump and Mattis. The Hill reported that Shanahan wasn’t close with Mattis; however he is liked by the White House. “He’s not a policy or geopolitics guy. He’s a business guy,” a source told Defense News. “But he’s spent the last year learning from the best. And Shanahan is known for having a good relationship” with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The...

White House and Pentagon officials sent out mixed signals Wednesday on the future of U.S. military forces in Syria. President Donald Trump sent out a tweet at 6:29 a.m. Eastern Time saying, "We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency." The Wall Street Journal then published a story that quoted a U.S. official as saying the Pentagon has an order to "move troops out of Syria as quickly as possible." The Pentagon, however, sent out a statement at 9:29 a.m. that indicated a withdrawal of the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria...

It's a major shift after decades in which submarines focused on projecting power ashore, with their only anti-ship weapons being their rarely-used torpedoes. Driving the change: increasing anxiety about China. WASHINGTON: With an eye on China, the Navy will begin arming its attack submarines with ship-killer missiles for the first time in decades. The weapon of choice: an updated model of the decades-old Harpoon. In a little-noticed announcement posted earlier this month on a government contracting site, the Navy said it was entering into negotiations with Boeing to refurbish and recertify Harpoon anti-ship missiles for Los Angeles-class subs. It’s a...

Control of the House will give them 'the power of no — the ability to block programs, cut funding, withhold agreement.' Democrats preparing to take over the House are aiming to roll back what they see as President Donald Trump's overly aggressive nuclear strategy. Their goals include eliminating money for Trump’s planned expansion of the U.S. atomic arsenal, including a new long-range ballistic missile and development of a smaller, battlefield nuclear bomb that critics say is more likely than a traditional nuke to be used in combat. They also want to stymie the administration's efforts to unravel arms control pacts...

The Democrat takeover of the House means ever further setbacks U.S. defense readiness. Sebastian Junger’s book The Perfect Storm chronicled an unusual weather event when several storm fronts combined to create a storm of unimaginable strength. Years of cuts in defense spending, the atrophying of our forces strained by seventeen years of war, President Trump’s sudden decision to cut Pentagon spending willy-nilly, and the Democrats’ taking control of the House has created a perfect political storm that will batter the Pentagon and enormously damage our national security. Time and again, President Trump has demanded that the military be rebuilt to...

While in the US capital, Mariusz BĹ‚aszczak was scheduled to sit down for talks with officials including Defence Secretary James Mattis, Polish RadioÂ’s IAR news agency reported. During his previous trip to Washington at the end of last month, BĹ‚aszczak held talks with President Donald TrumpÂ’s National Security Adviser John Bolton as part of a flurry of efforts by the government in Warsaw to have more US troops stationed in Poland amid fears of Russian aggression. BĹ‚aszczak told reporters he was optimistic about talks on setting up what officials and the media have dubbed Â“Fort TrumpÂ” in Poland. BĹ‚aĹĽej Spychalski,...

Caption -- Donald Trump and PM Modi at the G-20 Summit, PTI The United States is not going to put pressure on India to buy F-16 fighter jets or any other defence system, a senior US diplomat has said here. United States Consul General in Mumbai Edgard Kagan said India has purchased more than USD 15 billion worth of American defence materials and the US is "very proud" of the expanding defence ties between the two countries. Asked if there was a threat of the US imposing trade sanctions on India after its multi-billion deal with Russia for the S-400...

The Trump administration and the US defence industry are scrambling to save the few actual deals in the much-touted $110 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia as concerns rise about the role of the Kingdom's leadership over the death of a prominent critic. President Donald Trump has hedged his criticism of Saudi leaders over the disappearance and death of US resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting he does not want to imperil a "tremendous order" of $110 billion of weapons he says will support 500,000 US jobs - figures that experts say are highly exaggerated. Khashoggi's killing in...

The U.S. Navy is planning to finalize weapons integration on its new USS Ford carrier and explode bombs in various sea conditions near the ship to prepare for major combat on the open seas, service officials said. Service weapons testers will detonate a wide range of bombs, to include a variety of underwater sea mines to assess the carrier’s ability to withstand enemy attacks. “Shock Trials,” as they are called, are typically one of the final stages in the Navy process designed to bring warships from development to operational deployment. “The USS Gerald R. Ford will conduct further trails and...

US President Donald Trump has warned that the United States intended to build up its arsenal of nuclear weapons to put pressure on Russia and China. Speaking to reporters, he repeated his contention that Russia had violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which he has threatened to abandon. Russia denies this. The Cold War-era treaty banned medium-range missiles, reducing the perceived Soviet threat to European nations. Mr Trump said the US would build up its arsenal "until people come to their senses". He went on: "It's a threat to whoever you want to include China and it includes...

The Trump administration’s often overlooked list of achievements has surpassed those of former President Reagan at this time and more than doubled since the last tally of accomplishments after his first year in office, giving President Trump a solid platform to run for reelection on. As Trump nears the two-year mark of his historic election and conducts political rallies around the country during which he talks up his wins in hopes it will energize Republican voters, the administration has counted up 289 accomplishments in 18 categories, capped by the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. They include 173...

By now, most people in South Korea know the national team’s victory over Japan in the Asian Games football tournament secured not just the gold medal, but also an exemption from military service for Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min. The win also brought global attention to a simmering social and political issue in South Korea. All male South Koreans aged 18 to 35 undertake mandatory military service. Most start in their early 20s, disrupting tertiary education or postponing career entry. For most, mandatory military service includes five weeks of boot camp, and around two years of mind-numbing battalion boredom, indoctrination, and...